There is an emergency at our door and time is of the essence. Knowing this retaliation against a horrid disease has been tried and found successful seems too good to be true.
It is true insects become too resistant to insecticides and who wants strong insecticides in their homes and yards.
April 6, 2016
By Nina Fedoroff and John Block
...You’d be wrong. (click here) People are apprehensive about the release of these mosquitoes simply because they are genetically modified. And the company that produces them must traverse a time-consuming federal regulatory process before they can be released in the United States.
This is unfortunate, because biological insect control can eradicate pests over large areas. This is what these genetically modified mosquitoes are intended to do to Zika-virus-carrying mosquitoes....
...Unlike irradiated mosquitoes, which don’t compete well with wild ones for mates, genetically modified mosquitoes mate just fine, passing on the lethal gene. Small-scale tests conducted in the Cayman Islands, Panama and Brazil since 2009 reduced local mosquito populations by as much as 99 percent....
The sterile mosquitoes can be eradicated with chemicals if need be, but, they won't disturb any normal that I can think of. They will be introduced into a food chain. The study has to include the animals further up in the food chain to find if the genetic modification is passed along. Oddly, the Zika virus deforms it's genetic victims. We may find the food chain might have genetic malformations caused by the virus. The malformations of the virus vs the genetically sterile mosquitoes will have to be identified. That identification can and should be proven or disproven in the lab under controlled circumstances.
Other than that I do have a bit of confusion that I know consumers will raise. The average American is fairly smart when it comes to the well being of themselves and their family.
The confusion is this. Let me say this first. Educational material will have to be supplied when a treatment of sterile mosquitoes are introduced to the environment. The educational material has to include a hotline where Americans can call to ask questions. There can be a telephone tree with FAQs. If the FAQs don't answer their questions then have them write a letter to their local agricultural agent. We still have those very important folks working for us, don't we?
Confusion: If this method of controlling the Aedes aegypti mosquito does so up to 99 percent of the population, what happened in Brazil? Why did it fail? I realize the entire country or region has not been effected. There are still normal babies being born. But, what happened here? Is Brazil an outlier or is it within the anticipated statistics or has the mosquito mutated? Or perhaps the success of a previous treatment of genetically sterile mosquitoes was not repeated.
That confusion will come up and possibly the most frequently asked question. If the sterile mosquito was not introduced on subsequent years and realizing how quickly mosquitos reproduce it is understandable then there was a resurgence of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito carrying the Zika virus. That would be especially true in tropical regions.
If I remember correctly, the State of New Jersey has a department within it's agricultural department that conducts such studies. NJ's state entomologist actually has insects that remove invasive plants. That entomologist will breed the insects at request of land owners to help with invasive species of plant and/or other insects. That type of expert will know from years and years of experience HOW OFTEN an environment needs to be retreated to stop the growth or resurgence of the invasive.
I would think USDA or Interior would know about these existing programs. I know the telephone call to the state entomologist will be a surprise to them, but, it will be a welcome surprise. Just when speaking to them be specific as to why the call is necessary.
I think we have a winning strategy and it certainly is one the WHO will have already approved. The CDC could harness the information and statistics of the WHO to expedite any program in the USA. A mosquito is a mosquito. A virus is a virus. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel here.
Expediency is important.
Other than that I do have a bit of confusion that I know consumers will raise. The average American is fairly smart when it comes to the well being of themselves and their family.
The confusion is this. Let me say this first. Educational material will have to be supplied when a treatment of sterile mosquitoes are introduced to the environment. The educational material has to include a hotline where Americans can call to ask questions. There can be a telephone tree with FAQs. If the FAQs don't answer their questions then have them write a letter to their local agricultural agent. We still have those very important folks working for us, don't we?
Confusion: If this method of controlling the Aedes aegypti mosquito does so up to 99 percent of the population, what happened in Brazil? Why did it fail? I realize the entire country or region has not been effected. There are still normal babies being born. But, what happened here? Is Brazil an outlier or is it within the anticipated statistics or has the mosquito mutated? Or perhaps the success of a previous treatment of genetically sterile mosquitoes was not repeated.
That confusion will come up and possibly the most frequently asked question. If the sterile mosquito was not introduced on subsequent years and realizing how quickly mosquitos reproduce it is understandable then there was a resurgence of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito carrying the Zika virus. That would be especially true in tropical regions.
If I remember correctly, the State of New Jersey has a department within it's agricultural department that conducts such studies. NJ's state entomologist actually has insects that remove invasive plants. That entomologist will breed the insects at request of land owners to help with invasive species of plant and/or other insects. That type of expert will know from years and years of experience HOW OFTEN an environment needs to be retreated to stop the growth or resurgence of the invasive.
I would think USDA or Interior would know about these existing programs. I know the telephone call to the state entomologist will be a surprise to them, but, it will be a welcome surprise. Just when speaking to them be specific as to why the call is necessary.
I think we have a winning strategy and it certainly is one the WHO will have already approved. The CDC could harness the information and statistics of the WHO to expedite any program in the USA. A mosquito is a mosquito. A virus is a virus. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel here.
Expediency is important.
